Wednesday’s mountain inspiration is brought to us by the Rattlesnake Wilderness north of Missoula, Montana. These mountains are a hidden treasure and full of great hikes and ski tours.
Hope your day is going well. Now to make it through the next two to the weekend!
~R
Spending a solid block of time with your friends is always refreshing. They remind you of who you are, why you love the things you do and inspire you to try new ideas.
I’m lucky that this weekend that Jake let me ditch him at home, with all the chores and housework (thanks baby, you’re the best!), and jet off to Wyoming and Colorado with a couple of my amazing friends, Laura and Kellie. We rode bikes, drank beer, ate delicious food, climbed at the local rock gym, shopped for shoes, and crafted a little. For two glorious days we did what girls do best, hang out and talk.
Here are a few details from our crazy Colorado weekend!
We didn’t quite know what sort of adventures we wanted to do when we planned this weekend so we came up with a list of everything that sounded fun. These ranged from 80′s rollerskating to rock climbing to crocheting. Since we had no idea which ones we’d pick we packed for everything. This is what gear for two looks like in a MINI Cooper.
Who knew a MINI could hold so much gear and still drive over 80 mph. I may or may not have tested that theory.
Our first stop before we even left town was at the local brewery, Crow Peak. We love their beer and had a special request to bring some along.
Once we arrived it seemed that the beer-theme worked for us because Saturday we headed off to Fort Collins to ride our bikes and do the brewery tour! We did our best to visit six breweries; Fort Collins, Equinox, Odell, New Belgium, Coopersmith and Pateros Creek. Somewhere around brewery #4 we ran out of steam and needed food but we figured that just leave’s us some to visit the next trip down!
This is us at our first stop, Fort Collins brewery. I’m a big fan of their Chocolate Stout and enjoyed trying their Double Chocolate Stout, because if some chocolate is good, more is better.
And here’s where we ended out tour. After a full day of riding and enjoying many beer samples we stopped by Odell Brewing Co. They had some yummy sounding beers but we settled for some merchandise and called it a night. We’ll be visiting them and Pateros Creek Brewery later.
By late afternoon our stomaches were demanding some attention so we ditched the bikes and headed over to Thai Pepper. Thai food is pretty hard to find in South Dakota, unless you make it yourself, so this was a super fun treat. I’ve always wanted to try Vietnamese coffee and got my opportunity. Not too shabby but with all that sugar, not something I’ll be adding to my weekday morning routine.
I have a friend who lived in Thailand for a while and his curry is the standard by which all others are judged. Thai Pepper is one of the few places I’ve dined that have been able to meet that bar. I’ll be adding them to my list of places to visit when I’m down here again!
After a full day of exploring and with full stomaches we decided to call it a night. The next day we were up and at it again. The goal of this weekend was to try new adventures. Laura had never rock climbed and Inner Strength Rock Gym is a great place to learn. We all had a blast and Laura, coming off a foot injury and a little not to stoked on heights, showed us all how new adventures should be tried. She dug in and had a blast!
After two adventure filled days we did what all girls would do. Went shoe shopping! We also surprised Kellie with a massage and got some groceries that are hard to find at home.
All too soon our weekend adventures came to a close and it was time to make the long trek home. But it was great getting to do all the fun, awesome things that we girls like to do! What did you guys do this weekend? I hope it was fun!
~Rochelle
The other day one of my favorite bloggers, Elise Blaha, wrote about a day in her life for her Project Life. I love her posts but especially loved this one because it was such a personal one. Since I enjoyed it so much I thought I’d share a look into one of my days with all of you!
This was my Thursday. You were supposed to see it yesterday but technology has a way of messing with my best of intentions.
06:39 Up and at ‘em. I’m so not a morning person and I put off getting out of bed until the last possible minute. Dash through the shower, check email and weather on the iPhone (thank God for technology!), snag some paleo pumpkin custard and coffee for breakfast and out the door I go. I dream of the day where I get to eat breakfast sitting down and don’t have to rush out of the house first thing in the morning.
07:11 Hit the road for my 1 hour commute; traffic is unusually heavy. Have the phone read me the daily blogs and catch up on world events courtesy of NPR.
08:04 Work. Check email, review the new smoke management policy, and help one of my co-workers with project update and planning area info.
08:45 Wildland Firefighter Foundation benefit meeting. Looks like we’re going to change what we’re doing for the benefit but going to partner with Rapid City Fire for the event. I think this is going to be really positive.
09:00 Back to the desk and computer, time for buckle down for map and design work. Today’s project list is long but not impossible.
12:00 Out to lunch with Laura! We opt for a healthy Barbacoa’s salad and spend the hour planning our girls’ weekend with Kellie! Yay for road trips.
13:00 Back to the grindstone. Review two new journal articles, one on post-fire mortality and it’s relation to fire hazard/forest resiliency and one on using waste oil for prescribed burning.
14:00 Mental break. Look at options for girls’ weekend events; ideas include art and coffee in Laramie, Denver HiLo and RiNo for arts, books, and city time, Fort Collins brewery tour, Lory State park and the climbing gym. Back to the project list, a few of the items are going to have to wait for other folks.
15:30 Running time! I opt for the local bike path and nature park loop since my foot is still sore from cryo-surgery on Monday.
16:30 Stop by my sister’s house to catch up and see my god-daughter.
17:00 On the road again. I’m starving after my run and have to do a ton of laundry and pack tonight. It’s gonna be a busy evening.
18:00 Back home! I’m so lucky that Jake cooks dinner. I help him get stuff ready and then hit the shower.
19:00 Time to pack and do laundry. How we continually have a mountain of laundry, I’ll never understand. Fitting 2 bikes, 2 sets of climbing gear, 2 pair of snowshoes, a number of bottles of wine and our clothes into the MINI Cooper and still having room for 3 people is one heck of a jig saw puzzle.
21:49 Bed time! It’s been a long week and I don’t think I’m going to get much resting in this weekend either. Off to sleep I go.
Hope you have a great weekend. It’s girls weekend in Fort Collins so there should be lot’s of fun adventures to come!
~Rochelle
Lately Jake and I have found ourselves with a bad habit of not pre-planning our adventures. Part of this relates directly to my crazy, very unpredictable job where if I plan something I’m bound to get yanked out of life for an unknown amount of time with only a few minutes notice. The constant canceling of plans and letting people down has led to me not wanting to really commit to anything. If I don’t get excited about something I won’t get let down and feel even worse about doing that to my friends and family.This time of year this isn’t as big of a concern but our lack of planning has bled into this season too.
This weekend was no different and with no real plan or objective we found ourselves chilling with Jakes parents on Saturday instead of skiing like we talked about. Since we hadn’t gotten to see them much since Thanksgiving, we definitely didn’t feel bad about spending some quality time with them but it left us with only part of Sunday to fit in a ski tour. If we don’t make our goal of 20 Ski Tours before 2013, it will be our lack of planning that kills us.
Knowing that we had 4 hour drive to get back home at the end of the day, it had to be a short tour but the lack of snow as we drove up Highway 16 out of Buffalo, Wyoming had us wondering if we were going to ski at all. There are a couple of small peaks and some bowls near Powder River Pass that Jake and I had skied before. We figured at least one aspect would be holding some snow.
Our scouting from the road found the snow conditions kind of dubious and had me concerned that touring in the shallow snow was risking damaging our skis or skins. We decided to be very cautious with our route finding but see what we got. We managed to find two slopes that looked like they had enough snow and opted for the one that didn’t already have folks skiing it. Apparently there is a bigger demand for backcountry skiing in the Bighorns then we know, awesome!
We readied up our small mountain of gear and did the three-doggie shuffle to get all of us safely across the highway. There is just no convincing the four-leggeds to be calm and obedient when they see the skis come out and for this girl, getting the pups onto the trail is sometimes the hardest part. Once into the woods we found our groove, the dogs found their snorkels and off through the snowy lodgepole pine forest we went.
Dust on crust over 30 cm of depth hoar made for some challenging trail breaking conditions but at least it wasn’t more then that. Even the dogs found the going rough and spent a better portion of their time looking like ducklings following the mama duck. Jake has the fatter skis and did a lot of the work breaking trail. When we reached the elevation where the wind crust thickened and the rocks started making route finding a maze I took over.
I actually like breaking trail. I find it to be kind of cathartic and a puzzle all at the same time. Someone once told me a quote that a guide’s skin track is their signature and is direct reflection of them. I remember a ski tour a long time ago where one of the gals I was touring with was struggling with her skins and track. Not only did her skins not fit her skis well but the track had been laid relatively steep. For each step up the gal went two or three back. After much frustration and a few tears, one of our more experienced friends traded her skins and took on the burden of the horrible skin track and ill-fitting skins. It didn’t take too many more experiences of my own to realize that, although I’m not a guide, the skin track I set says a lot about me as a skier and a leader. Every opportunity I get to work on this skill I take.
Near the top the terrain flattened out and I thought about just heading downhill but my curiosity got the better of me and I had to see what lay over the ridge. As I looked at the other side of the mountain the lyrics from the childhood song “The Bear Went Over the Mountain” ran threw my mind. Yep, the view was the other side of the mountain.
After a quick snack, a snapshot and removing our skins it was time to get moving.
With a few solid turns, a solitary face plant, and some fancy rock-avoiding footwork we found ourselves back at the road. The wind blown upper slopes held the best turns of the day and we wished we could go back for another round. Even with our lack of planning it turned out to be another fun tour but the day had grown long and home was calling.
We loaded up and hit the roads, say goodbye to our favorite Wyoming mountains again. We’ll be back and hopefully the next round will be with a plan!
Journeying through Wyoming is always an adventure. Sometimes you stumble upon a tiny jem of a town, forgotten from the everyday hustle and bustle. Other days it’s a secluded waterfall or ancient relic. Never does Wyoming seem to disappoint and this weekend’s travels were no different.
The rising prairie sun brought a sparkling glow to the delicate crystals of hoar frost that blanketed the quiet morning.
The miles of highway quickly turned from open prairie to vast mountain skylines and made our little hearts go pitter-patter with glee!
And then, much to my delight, the mountains shared a rare treat with us. Say hi to my not-so-little friends!
Not once, but twice! Oh my, what big everything you have!
And not twice, but three times! Peek-a-boo.
Oh yeah, we might have done some backcountry skiing in there too but I’m still too enamored with the moose to do a trip report. Stay tuned for that later this week. But for now just scroll back and revel in some of Wyoming’s Finest!
Moosely Yours,
Rochelle
Feet, ewww. Shoes, sweet. Why is it that we have this love/hate relationship with our feet and what we put on them? Rarely do we get our shoes fitted yet most of us know that having the right footwear can make or break an adventure. So why is it that we assume that we can just shove our feet into any pair of ski or snowboard boots and they’ll perform? Until last winter, I tragically fell into this category of people. Sure, I’d heard of getting custom fitted for ski boots but I’d also heard about the OMG! pricetag that went with it and figured it was for racers.
I bought my first pair of plastic telemark boots in 2002, a men’s Scarpa T2 size 26.5 in dark blue. At the time, ladies telemark boots were pretty much unheard of. With my large foot size having to buy men’s shoes to get them to fit was a common enough occurrence growing up that I didn’t think anything of it. My toes touched the end of the boot when standing and they kept my feet warm; it was love! I skied those puppies all over the US; front country, side country, backcountry, East Coast ice, West Coast powder. Those boots carried me over a lot of miles. Then, one fateful day in early season 2010-11, my beloved boots started causing me a lot pain. So much that I stopped tele-ing.
Living nowhere close to any shops that carry that telemark gear I did what any reasonably internet savvy girl would do. I went shopping. HUGE FAIL! First I got a pair of BD Stiletto’s. They were super hot and I wanted them to work so badly. Try as I might, no amount of DIY thermo-fitting the liners could make my feet fit into those boots. I thought my toes were going to be amputated after one run down the hill. Next I decided to buy a new pair of liners for my old ones and had them fitted in a shop in Montana. The pain was still there and now the boots felt super sloppy. Fail again. Ugh. So back to the internet it was. I traded the Stiletto’s to a gal in Wisconsin for a pair of Crispi’s, a size larger then the Stiletto’s had been. Back to sloppy-ville. At this rate I was going to become an AT skier because those were the only boots that fit.
Jake and I been hearing tales of this boot guru, Larry Houchen, in Boulder that was not only reasonably priced but super fun to visit. By this time it was mid-February and I was desperate to get back on my teles. We were planning to spend President’s day weekend skiing and figured Boulder was on the way to good snow. We pulled up the sticker covered shop on a side street in Boulder; it resembled my favorite high school back alley hang-outs. Two very busy guys, Barry and Kaylee, greeted and seated us in the funky, retro movie theater chairs. A ski video was playing on the TV and vintage skis, posters and pinball machines filled the spaces in between every make and model of ski boot available in the US. It was awesome! Soon Barry had me standing barefoot in my boots, watched me walk and then told me I was screwed. There was no way they were making either my old pair or the Crispi’s work. If I wanted ski control, I was buying a new pair. Ouch!
I’d been off my tele gear long enough that cost really didn’t matter. Unfortunately, they were out of any boots that would work for my feet. I was pretty worried I was going to have to wait again to order boots and then come back but they called all over town until they found a pair. Off we went to collect a shiny new pair of Garmonts. Shortly after we returned they had my feet ensconced in flaming-hot, thermo-fitted liners with custom insoles while I stood on the fitting board drinking a beer and hoping like hell this worked. I had just shelled out $700 for boots that were a size and a half smaller then I’d ever worn. By the time I paid for custom foot beds and fitting they would be worth more then any of my ski set-ups. After making a few tweaks they sent us out to ski for the weekend and told us to stop by on our way home to make any necessary tweaks. After spending the weekend touring Taos and then Rocky Mountain National Park, we headed back to the shop. They quickly fixed my minor issues, no cost, as they come with a lifetime guarantee since I bought them there, and sent us on our way. The boots performed perfectly the rest of the winter.
This season I’ve spent number of days in them and my AT boots. Hands down my custom-fitted tele boots win every time I have to opportunity to choose. After a toenail blackening tour on my AT’s a few weeks ago, it was apparent that these boots also needed the magic touch from Larry and the gang so off to Boulder we went. Even though I hadn’t purchased this pair from them the customer service was once again impeccable. The custom footbeds in my tele boots are so awesome that I added a pair to my AT’s and as soon as I buy my new fire boots we’ll be making our way back down to Colorado.
I might have a love/hate relationship with feet but when it comes to Larry’s Boot Fitting, I can safely say it’s pure love. So if you’re in the market for a great fitting boot or just want a reason to love your feet, I’d highly recommend checking them out.
Happy Ski Tour Saturday!
~Rochelle
With its famous faces, rich history and 1.25 million acres of National Forest to explore, the Black Hills is not lacking in adventure opportunities. My childhood memories are filled with hiking adventures from Harney Peak to Crow Peak, boulder scrambling at Devils Tower and Custer State Park, camping next to many a babbling brook and a myriad of other outdoor activities. I’m sure my parents often wondered if I wasn’t going to spend the rest of my life living in a tent based on the number of hours my younger brother and I logged in the old family Coleman and the way we begged to go camping.
Over the years I’ve been lucky enough to visit most of the major attractions and plenty of lesser knows as well. The beauty of the Hills continues to astound me. Memories of moonlight hikes at Timon Campground, polar plunging into Roughlock Falls in March and a night of hurricane force winds on Harney Peak make me smile. There is no doubt in my mind that there will always be new adventures to tackle. In my post Discovering the Hippie’s Secret I mentioned my “Black Hills Bucket List,” a list of adventures that I want to complete. Today I thought I’d share what’s on the list.
These are the adventures that are missing from my Black Hills adventure resume. Do you have a life list of adventures? What are some adventures that you want to tackle?
Happy Friday!
~Rochelle
Having spent a large portion of my life in the Black Hills in an outdoorsy family and working in the forest on a daily basis often translates into been there, done that when it comes to adventures. However, last year I compiled what I affectionately refer to as my “Black Hills Bucket List.” I figure once I’ve finished the things on my list I’ll pretty much have done or seen everything I want to and can move on to a new place. Honestly, I doubt that’ll occur but there are plenty of days where I’d like to wake up and and look out my window to much bigger mountains.
This weekend was another abysmal weekend in the snow realm (AKA 50-degrees and sunny) and the attitudes in our house were getting pretty bad.
Not what February in the Black Hills should look like.
It’s weird to look at a weather forecast, see sunshine and 50-degrees and vocalize your thought, “Man, the weather is horrible.” At this point, not buying ski passes in hopes of backcountry skiing more was a terrible decision. At least we’d have been skiing on something, even if it is only 900 vertical feet of man-made slush.
A command decision was made Saturday morning that we HAD to leave the house instead of moping around being cranky because of the lack of snow. Jake decided we should tackle one of my “Bucket List” adventures. Hippie Hole was chosen.
I know, Hippie Hole sounds a little wild, but this time of year we figured it would be a little less hallucinogenic. Local legends and lore about this mystical location abound but directions are a little less forthcoming. Using a geocache with a similar name, Google Earth and a little intuition we found ourselves bouncing down the Forest Service two-tracks to a dead end, where we were greeted by this…
Welcome to Hippie Ville!
I think we found the right place!
We unloaded the three dogs, shouldered our packs, and headed off down the obvious trail.
Life can be fun without snow.
After a short hike down into the mica flecked granite gorge, we found ourselves at the meandering stream. But no hippies or holes. Just an ice-encased, willow choked stream. Hmmm.
With no idea of which way to go we opted for the downstream challenge of ice-covered boulder hopping through the willows. Soon the boulders became noticeably smooth and the gurgle of the stream turned into a dull roar. Then suddenly the canyon walls opened up and ground in front of us dropped away. A granite-rimmed, sparkling ice sheet filled the canyon.
Found the Hole but no Hippies here.
We scrambled around looking for a way down..
But we didn’t find much in the way of options. Other then the very obvious cold, wet one this was our only other choice.
Hey, think this rope is UIAA rated?
Something that bizarre in the bottom of a remote canyon deserves a closer look.
I want to know who had the misfortune of hauling this down on their back.
We opted to skip the traditional Hippie Hole activities and with no where to go but up, did exactly that. By the time we reached the upper limits of the canyon our layers had been shed and I was wishing for more summer-like attire.
While we didn’t partake in any of the more exotic adventures, Hippie Hole still left us with smiles. And now we know the Hippie’s secret. It was a great weekend adventure!
What sort of adventures do you take on to stay happy when the weather doesn’t go your way? I’m in the market for a few ideas!
~R
Nestled deep in the Absaroka mountains, just outside the northeast corner of Yellowstone National Park lies the tiny hamlet of Cooke City. This tiny village is home to a handful of hardy mountain people. The towering peaks that encircle the village bear many scars from Mother Natures hand. Avalanches are common and wildfires are all too familiar. When I stumbled across this log cabin church with its crosses raised high something seemed so right. In a place where the line between life and death is is thin, these crosses mesmerized me.
A couple of weeks ago I posted about a ski trip dilemma Jake and I were dealing with and a couple of people asked what we decided. We did not go on the trip. We have a rule that if one ski partner isn’t comfortable with the situation, we don’t go and so we ended up staying home. I’m kind of bummed because it probably was “the big ski trip” for this year and although I’m sure we’ll take a few weekend trips before winter is over there just isn’t much time left in the schedule between now and the start of our busy seasons at work. 2012 just isn’t turning out to be a ski year, which leave me wondering what kind of year it will be.
So now you know. On a side note, the rest of the gang did go and are still all alive. I haven’t heard from any of them as to how it went but I’m sure they had a blast. At least I hope they did!
That’s all I’ve got for now. I hope you are all having a most excellent start to your February!
~R